The plan
by Davinahyde
Summary: What happens in the Driver's mind during the best - and worst - 30 seconds of his life.


Irene opened the door of her apartment and right then the Driver saw how it could work.

They had money now, enough money to live on. He could always find work. He was an adaptable guy.

Her foot stepped on to the carpeting.

He was going to have to tell her that he was with Standard when everything went sideways and the heist Standard was involved in went bad and some bad guys killed a grown man, a married man with a small child, like a dog. That was fair. She should know about all that. That knowledge could change everything. If it did, and she wanted no part of him, the Driver could have no argument with that. She needed to know, and he would tell her..

Her hand dropped her keys into her bag.

If she was okay with giving it a try, he was okay with taking it slowly. If she was not okay with being with him, that was also okay and should be her choice. First, however, Irene and Benecio and he had to leave this place. This apartment building, this city, this disaster. The Driver had done the right thing, everyone had tried to do the right thing, and yet: everything had gone wrong. But now they had money. Now they had a chance.

She stared into his eyes as he told her that he'd been there.

Did she really understand that he hadn't betrayed Standard? That he hadn't betrayed her? He had done everything and still it wasn't enough. The only thing different was that now she wasn't married any more. She would need time to recover from Standard's death, but both he and Irene knew that she hadn't been married for a very long time.

Irene's hand felt cold and dry as it slapped his face.

That was okay. Completely understandable and he in no way blamed her or felt angry about it. He could give her time, as much time as she wanted. If she needed forever, she would have forever. There would be no pressure on his part about them. The only pressure was going to be that they had to leave — Irene and her son had to get out of here, _now_. The guys who set Standard up to die were bad guys, and sooner or later they were going to come to this place, to this building, to this floor, and they were going to hurt her and they were going to hurt Benecio, and that was not okay. Even if she never spoke another word to the Driver again, as long as she and her son left this building, left this city, left with him that would be okay.

The doors to the elevator opened. A man was already on the elevator.

She would speak to him again, though. Their one date had been short and stupid and overshadowed by the news from Standard's lawyer. But that night, she had talked to him. She had said so many things, about her, about Standard, about their marriage, about what it was like to live alone waiting for a man who was in jail. The Driver had always been a good listener. He had not so much as held her hand that night, because that would not have been right. She had been a married woman.

The woman who got on the elevator was no longer married.

The plan would work. He had the money in the car. She would finish with whatever she had to do that day, Irene would get Benecio, the Driver would get Irene and Benecio, and the three of them would go. Wherever she wanted. If she hated the sight of him and started dating other men, he could live with that, because he had watched Standard die and he knew some of her had died too. So that was okay.

The Driver looked at the other man on the elevator. The other man had a gun in his waistband.

The plan wasn't going to work.

The Driver looked at Irene, at her beautiful, trusting face, and he knew that everything that was going to happen had to happen right now, because this was the only moment. He put his plan aside, that stupid crazy plan that had been rattling around his brain for the last thirty seconds. Because there was no plan. No use looking in the rearview mirror on this one.

He kissed her. She tasted like everything he'd never had in his life. Like everything he'd ever wanted. Strange, how he'd never realized that it could be that completely perfect and true. As they kissed everything else went away: Standard's death, the money, the future, him watching Benecio playing Little League, her making chicken pot pie. It was all gone, in a minute, in one kiss. The guys who sent this man with a gun would never stop looking, would never stop trying to get their money. They'd made Standard's two thousand dollar debt into a twenty thousand dollar debt overnight. What would they do with a million dollars gone missing? Kill everyone in the world, maybe.

That wasn't going to happen.

The Driver turned to the other man in the elevator as the man reached for his gun. This, he knew how to do. This, he could make work.


End file.
